Five home runs push Angels past Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas - The stars at night are big and bright – and it sure helps to go deep in the heart of Texas.

The Angels hit five solo home runs to back Ervin Santana's seven strong innings on short rest Saturday night as the Angels answered the Rangers' opening salvo in this series with an 8-4 victory of their own.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia rolled the dice on starting both Santana and Jered Weaver on three days rest in this crucial series. It has worked out perfectly so far – the Angels now have their ace on the mound Sunday night in the deciding game of the series with a chance to leave Texas within one game of first place in the AL West.

"Couldn't ask for anything better," said Angels outfielder Vernon Wells who had an RBI triple as well as one of the home runs. "Hopefully, he (Weaver) pitches as well as he did against these guys the last time (a 2-1 victory in Anaheim on Aug. 18)."

The Angels would be thrilled if Weaver pitches as well as Santana did on short rest.

Santana retired the first nine Rangers batters in order before running into some trouble in the middle innings. There was a two-run home run by David Murphy in the fifth, which followed some poor defense by the Angels in the fourth.

With runners at second and third and one out in the fourth, Mike Trout handled a fly ball to shallow right field but hesitated, unsure where to throw. One runner tagged and scored, the other beat his throw to third and scored when Mike Napoli followed with a single.

"That fourth inning, we could have done a better job of holding it down," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "There's some youth on that field. Mike thought he didn't have a play at home."

That same youth did a lot of the damage at the plate. Trout and Bobby Wilson hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth, and Peter Bourjos went deep in the fifth and Howie Kendrick in the seventh.

It was the first time since April 21, 2000 at Tampa Bay that the Angels hit five solo home runs in a game (two each by Mo Vaughn and Tim Salmon and one by Troy Glaus) and only the second time in franchise history they had five different players hit solo home runs in a game.

They hit six solo home runs in a 14-9 victory over the Oakland A's in Anaheim on April 23, 1985. Bobby Grich, Doug DeCinces, Jerry Narron and Dick Schofield each hit one and Reggie Jackson hit two.

The first four of the Angels' home runs Saturday came of Rangers left-hander C.J. Wilson, who had not allowed a single long ball in the month of August and had the third-lowest home run rate in the American League this season (seventh in the majors). The career-high four homer runs that he allowed Saturday matched his total from his previous 17 starts.

While Scioscia insists that his team is not built around – or dependent upon – the home run, the Angels have now hit at least one in 17 of their past 18 games (seven in the first two games of this series) and are 50-27 this season when they hit a home run.

It might not be the Angels' weapon of choice, but it is a handy one to have. There have been a major-league high 188 home runs hit at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington this season.

"I don't think it's a matter of trying to hit home runs here," Wells said. "But in your psyche, you know it's a good hitters' park and if you hit the ball well, it's going to go."

That's exactly why Santana's performance was even more impressive. After the back-to-back home runs by Trout and Wilson in the fourth gave the Angels a 4-0 lead, Santana never let the Rangers get closer than two runs.

"You have to really appreciate it's not a very forgiving lineup," Scioscia said. "If you make a mistake, they're going to make you pay. But he held them down.

"Ervin pitched terrific baseball. He did about as much as we could hope for."

Santana finished his first career start on short rest having allowed four runs on four hits, a walk, two hit batters and two wild pitches in seven innings – but it looked like a shutout considering the conditions, including a temperature of 104 degrees at game time.

"Kind of, because it's tough," Santana said of the conversion rate for a "quality start" in Texas. "Those guys are very aggressive. They don't miss.

"And it was hot. Really hot."

The heat was turned up on rookie closer Jordan Walden in the ninth. Walden's jersey was drenched in sweat as he labored to load the bases while retiring just one of the four batters he faced. With the left-handed Murphy coming up (and he already hit one grand slam this weekend), Scioscia pulled Walden for left-hander Hisanori Takahashi who earned his second save of the season by getting Murphy to bounce into a game-ending double play.

"He's going to be closing tomorrow," Scioscia said of Walden. "But where we were, it was hot out there, his pitch count was getting up there (24). That was a matchup move. Murphy's a guy who can tie the game up with one swing."